What it does
Type your yearly salary and choose where you live. The calculator works out your Income Tax, National Insurance (NI), any student loan repayments and your pension for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027), then shows your take-home pay a year, a month and a week. A bar shows where each pound goes. It knows the Scottish bands, the personal allowance taper over £100,000 and the three ways pensions are paid.
When you know your take-home pay, plan it with the budget planner, test paying off a loan sooner with the loan payoff planner, or compare with the Canada tax calculator.
How to use it
- Choose where you live: Scotland has its own bands; England, Wales and Northern Ireland share theirs.
- Type your salary before anything comes off, and any other taxable income such as rent profit or a pension. Other income pays tax but no NI.
- Pick your pension type and how much goes into your pot, as a percentage of salary or pounds a year.
- Tick any student loans you repay.
What each option does
- Relief at source: you pay 80% from take-home pay and your provider adds 20%. Higher-rate relief comes back by widening your basic-rate band.
- Net pay: your employer takes the pension before tax, but you still pay NI on it.
- Salary sacrifice: your pay is lowered, so you save tax, NI and student loan repayments.
- Plans 1, 2, 4 and 5: 9% of pay over £26,900, £29,385, £33,795 or £25,000. Postgraduate: 6% over £21,000.
- Marginal rate: how much of your next £100 of salary goes on tax, NI and loans.
Worked example
Sam lives in England and earns £50,000 with no pension or loan. Tax is £7,486 (20% of £37,430) and NI £2,994.40 (8% of £37,430). Take-home is £39,519.60 a year, about £3,293 a month. In Scotland, tax on the same pay is £8,982.05. On £110,000, the allowance falls to £7,570; putting £10,000 into a pension by salary sacrifice brings it back to £12,570. Take-home goes from £72,357.40 to £68,557.40, so £10,000 in the pot costs only £3,800 of take-home pay.
FAQs
Does it include dividends or savings interest? No. They have their own allowances and rates.
Why is my payslip slightly different? Payroll works period by period and your tax code may not be 1257L.
Is anything saved? No. Nothing you type leaves the page. Not financial or tax advice; check the official source.
Where the numbers come from
- Personal allowance, Income Tax bands for England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, Class 1 NI thresholds and rates, student and postgraduate loan thresholds and rates for 2026/27: GOV.UK, Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-thresholds-for-employers-2026-to-2027 (checked 2026-11-10)
- Personal allowance taper (£1 for every £2 over £100,000) and pension tax relief rules: GOV.UK, https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates and https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-your-private-pension/pension-tax-relief (checked 2026-11-10)
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Last updated 2026-11-10.